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September 27, 2004

Top Ten things said about Iraq that you will never hear said about Ghettoes in the U.S. Continued 5-1

5. “We probably alienated thousands of Iraqi’s whom support we need by doing hundreds of midnight home invasion looking for a few insurgents.”

Is this not the story of Black life in America? The police have harassed so many of us while trying to get those who represent the criminal element from amongst us that they have alienated most of us. Black men and women are not born distrusting the police this is a learned behavior via our interactions with the police in our communities. We have seen the police absent when things are going bad and on the scene in force when all we were doing is having some fun or possibly gathering in numbers that put fear in their hearts. Police Brutality has been a reality in the Black community for as long as we can remember and if those who are in charge in Iraq understand that over policing alienates the populace, why is such understanding absent from the over policing in our communities.

4. “Condition in Abu Gharib under Saddam Hussein were unimaginable to most American: desperate pleas scrawled in excrement on the walls, crammed cells, torture, humiliations and unjust executions.”

Apparently the Military lawyer who made this statement as noted by sista Constance is either ignorant or unfamiliar with prison conditions here in the U.S. The only people who think such conditions are unimaginable are those who have not known anyone that has spent some time behind the wall.

3.”We have to put ourselves in Iraqi Shoes, and become culturally sophisticated enough to win the only battle that counts, the one for Iraqi hearts and mind.”

This is Laugh out Loud funny here. When was the last time there has been talk about winning the hearts and mind of Black folk in America. When was the last time someone said this is the only battle that counts. The American approach to Iraq and the problems facing Iraq is not practiced here in America.

2. “You have to expect a people that is suppressed and denied opportunity to erupt on occasion”

This again is the Don of the Pentagon speaking. If it is reasonable to expect a people suppressed and denied opportunity to erupt on occasion; why is there shock and surprise when cities and towns erupt here in the U.S.? When ever Black folk erupt we are made to appear irrational and our eruption to be without merit. Strange enough the next time there is an eruption in America we should all make sure we repeat what Donald Rumsfield said.

1.”Men without jobs feel emasculated and desperate and that is why our number one mission is to get Iraqi’s into jobs.”

In saving the best for last this statement says a mouthful. There is no doubting that a man does not feel like a man if he can not provide for his family, and because of that he becomes desperate in his attempt to provide for his family. A Recent study stated N.Y unemployment for Black men was at fifty percent. I did not hear one politician, come out and say their number one mission was to get those Black men into jobs as to escape the feeling of desperation and emasculation.

This list says so much about America and how it view Black men and women that have suffered here and have yet to have redress for our unwarranted and ungodly suffering here in America at the hands of white folk. So while white folk are up in arms about Africa Town in Detroit,; to establish Africa Town would only take ten percent of the monies spent in Iraq. Why are white folk not as disturbed by the spending in Iraq as they are in the plan for spending on Black folk in America, it is because they are in direct competition with us and do not believe we deserve what they received and that is structural empowerment in order to attain wealth.